Since the 1960s, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery has been the unlikely home of wild monk parakeets. You may be wondering how a flock of seemingly religious parakeets wound up in a nonsectarian cemetery (ok, they’re not really birds of the cloth; they’re so-named because someone thought the signature gray patch on their heads looked like a monk’s cap). The purported answer is a true New York story: a crate of the birds broke open at JFK, presumably upon arrival from the species’ native Argentina. Luckily, the New York climate was close enough to their Andean habitats that monk parakeets were able to survive and thrive and become yet another example of how immigrants enrich America.
For today’s story, though, we’ll be flying north to Manhattan’s Central Park, where a parakeet of a different feather is making news. Named Mei Mei by the birders who have been following her exploits, this parakeet is a budgerigar (budgies for short) who are native to the warmer-climes of Australia. Birders immediately clocked Mei Mei when she showed up in Central Park in late August because, well, it’s hard to miss the neon green ladybird flying with a bunch of brown-colored house sparrows. The sparrows have totally welcomed Mei Mei into their flock, which is adorable! Except Mei Mei isn’t built for the northeast winter rapidly approaching, which is why birders are trying to capture and re-home her.
Mei Mei has been hopping around the Seneca Village area of Central Park near the Upper West Side since at least Aug. 20, when birders theorize she first became lost — whether she escaped from a home, split from a breeder or was intentionally released.
The Budgerigar, also known as Budgies or common parakeets, spent her first days of freedom alone and spent some time with a flock of cowbirds, but it wasn’t long before a group of House Sparrows claimed her as one of their own.
…Unlike their Argentinian-born cousins the monk parakeets that have taken over the Greenwood Cemetery and can be found living wild all over New York City, Budgies are only used to warm weather and do not have enough body fat to survive the Big Apple’s winters.
In her short time out of captivity, Mei Mei has apparently embraced her new life as a free bird — lost parakeets are known to perch on human fingers, even those of strangers, but Mei Mei flees with her new flock every time a person approaches.
She’s even attuned her behavior to match those of the House Sparrows, who do not fly south for the winter, said David Barrett, the brains behind the popular X account Manhattan Bird Alert.
“The Budgerigar survives by eating grass seeds and possibly bugs. She stays safe by foraging with a House Sparrow flock: if one notices danger and flies away, the entire flock will join in flight. This affords protection from birds of prey like hawks or falcons, which are present in the park,” said Barrett.
“This is great for its short-term survival, but it now behaves like a wild bird, and this makes it quite challenging to rescue by ordinary means.”
Mei Mei’s new life has the birding community split, with some celebrating her newfound freedom as symbolic, while others are frantically trying to put her back in a cage.
The Australian birds do not store fat and cannot survive once temperatures drop below 50 degrees, meaning rescuers have just about four weeks to capture Mei Mei and bring her indoors.
Birders are hoping that the impending cold weather will slow Mei Mei down enough so they can finally catch her.
Gah, this one’s a real heart-wrencher! On the one hand, Mei Mei has found her chosen family and they’ve welcomed her with open wings. That’s beautiful and should be celebrated and we humans could stand to follow their example! On the other talon — we want Mei Mei to live!! At what cost freedom and living life on your own terms? This isn’t merely the tale of a wayward bird; it’s an existential conundrum! Working in Mei Mei’s favor right now is that NYC temps have been unseasonably warm (but thanks to human-induced climate change, boo hiss). Also, there are a lot of eyes on Mei Mei meticulously tracking her whereabouts, with a confirmed sighting as recent as yesterday. I’m crossing all my feathers for the best possible outcome! Then once that’s settled we can start drafting a script for the Pixar depiction of Mei Mei & the Sparrows.
Birds of a feather…
Central Park’s lost Budgerigar continues to thrive with a flock of Sparrows. It is healthy, flies well, and evades rescue attempts.
Central Park, New York City#birdcpp #birdtwitter #centralpark pic.twitter.com/a3Uqw823AM
— Bagels & Walks (@BagelsAndWalks) September 5, 2025
The Lost Budgerigar continues in Central Park, often near a rock outcropping by West Drive and 83rd Street. She is fine with the slightly cooler weather but will need a rescue when cold arrives. 🦜 💛 pic.twitter.com/2rg9OWZ1W6
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) October 2, 2025
We here in New York really love bird stories. There was Pale Male, whose nest and courting situations were like a Spanish soap opera–one of his mates was killed by dining on poisoned rat. There was Flaco the owl who was illegally liberated from the Central Park Zoo. NYers were were torn between the fact that a wild animal was free of captivity and then the dooming quotes from Central Park Zoo keepers about Flaco’s safety. In fact, I believe Flaco died from eating poisoned rat? But there were existential quotes about whether better to briefly live your best life in freedom than live in a cage.
If Mei Mei has a flock, hopefully they will engage in huddling behaviors to keep MM warm, though I don’t know if that’s what House Sparrows do?
Favorite bird quote of all time: New York birders, years and years ago, discovered a rare species bird in the fall that should have migrated, did migrate, but went in the wrong direction and instead of flying south to warm weather, look a wrong turn and ended up in Central Park. Said one consulted avian expert: ‘If that bird were smarter, he’d be in Mexico by now.”
I remember that lost bird!
This post was a delight as was your comment NOHOPE.
Kismet, I love this post! I especially love that you are “crossing your feathers” for Mei Mei that all will be well with this adventuresome bird. I live in Austin, and we have green parakeets here, and three types of parrots that are thriving. They build huge nests and can be loud but they are harmless and fun to watch.
❤️
There were wild budgies (I assume, I don’t know birds, but they had the same coloration as Mei Mei) in our old neighborhood. They nested in some telephone poles on the lane behind our house where we would walk the dog. My kids would get so excited when we’d get a parakeet sighting! We’re in TX though so they probably were able to stay year-round. I hope Mei Mei will be well, also! And I agree that this tale is made for Pixar. The photo of Mei Mei with her adopted family is darling.
I love that Bagels&Walks pic, Mei Mei being her totally inconspicuous self, blending in perfectly with the house sparrows. Neon green who?
Crossing my wings behind my back in true Mei Mei fashion for everything to end well.
I love that photo, too! I love that the sparrows have taken her in, so to speak. I spent about 2/3 of my life in Oregon, where the birds are all variations of gray, so I love to see brightly colored birds like budgies & cardinals & etc. when I travel.
The sadly now-extinct Carolina parakeet was found in southern New York, so maybe?
I’ve always been annoyed about that extinction because the Audubon pic in Birds of America is just so adorable. https://today.uconn.edu/2018/03/tragic-story-americas-native-parrot/
Thank you for posting the link; those little parrots were so cute!
Oh Mei Mei, be free. My sister had parakeets when I was a teen and I just hated seeing them in that cage. Especially because they would develop obsessive behaviors. DUH!! Birds get bored in a cage!
I love that Mei Mei is flying free with her adoptive flock of brown-feathered friends. But the temps are going to drop in New York soon enough. Even for birds that are native to the region, a severe cold snap or snow storm can be brutal. If they can’t/don’t catch her, hopefully her companions will help her stay warm.
Oh we have thousands upon thousands of these in London, and there are all kinds of different theories and rumours about how they got to the UK. They are pretty tame and there are places in London where you can hand feed them – hold out an apple and they’ll sit on your arm and eat it.
Omg, terrified for her with cold weather coming! I didn’t know that about the body fat and of course she hasn’t got the migratory instinct being from another continent 😭😭😭
Best wishes! 🦜